Vinteloper

Also a finalist in the "wine industry's tallest man award" David Bowley's story is a good one. He worked with the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation for many a year looking after winery auditing and it was here that he gained an intimate insight into the whole spread of options, from the smallest artisan to the biggest corporate beheamouth. He stepped up and out in 2008 and started the Vinteloper project, making small amounts of interesting wines that are an honest representation of this giant man's journey into winemaking. We need more like him! YGW

Raised in the Adelaide foothills, vineyards and wineries had permeated his David Bowleys mind before he left school. It was inevitable that he would obtain his agricultural science (oenology) degree at Adelaide University (in 2002); he worked at wineries and overseas over the next two years. A career in basketball meant a conventional day job was needed, and he worked for the Australian Wine & Brandy Corporation for six years, squeezing in a single vineyard McLaren Vale Shiraz during the last two years. He then took the plunge, and moved into full-time winemaking, seeking to match variety and region. He has also experimented with art versus science, making Watervale Riesling in two very different ways. JAMES HALLIDAY, The Australian Wine Companion 2013